Republican candidate for County Clerk Linda Andreas of Maryville took aim at Democrat incumbent Debbie Ming Mendoza over errors that caused ballots of more than 100 registered voters in Edwardsville Precinct 3 to include three judicial races.
On Thursday, Ming-Mendoza confirmed that 160 ballots were erroneously coded as being within the bounds of Judicial Subcircuit 1, and that a "handful" of early voters or mail voters were incorrectly allowed to vote in the circuit court judge races.
"Her latest blunder is that she mislabeled ballots causing people to vote in the wrong Judicial Subcircuit," Andreas said. "This means that those early voters have been disenfranchised in the Judicial Subcircuit that they live in."
Ming-Mendoza said ballots were incorrectly coded because the wrong subcircuit map was posted to the county’s website. She described it as human error, and also said she would not “throw anyone under the bus.” She also accepted responsibility for the errors.
She called the situation "serious," and said she was in talks with the State’s Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office as to how the remediation process is handled.
Andreas, who defeated county board member Mike Walters in the primary to earn the Republican nomination for County Clerk, said she wonders what Ming Mendoza means by accepting full responsibility for the situation.
"Is she resigning?" Andreas said. "Or are those hollow words? Her tenure as County Clerk has been plagued with mistakes and excuses instead of getting the job done right."
Ming Mendoza told the Record on Thursday that she was sending letters to the 160 registered voters affected by the mistake to explain why they were allowed to vote for judicial candidates in the primary election but not in the Nov. 8 election.
She said that voters who had not voted prior to Thursday morning will not be affected, as their ballots have been corrected.
Of 31 mail-in ballots that erroneously included the judicial races, Ming Mendoza said that 16 had not been returned. She said two of the completed ballots already had been tabulated as election judges began processing mail-in ballots on Tuesday. Those two ballots will be handled separately, she said.
The completed mail-in ballots that are not already in the tabulator will be recast. She said that a team of Republican and Democratic election judges will “remake” those ballots with the judicial election excluded. She said the process will occur in front of poll watchers to ensure honesty and transparency.
In the meantime, three Republican candidates running for circuit judge asked Ming Mendoza a number of questions in a letter submitted on Thursday.
Among questions being asked by Circuit Judges Chris Threlkeld and Amy Sholar, and attorney Tim Berkley, are: Will a court order be required? For whatever plan you have, what is your statutory authority?